Albendazole, a broad-spectrum oral antihelminthic, is the drug of
choice and is approved in the USA for treatment of hydatid disease
and cysticercosis.
It is also used in the treatment of pinworm and
hookworm infections, ascariasis, trichuriasis, and strongyloidiasis.
Basic Pharmacology
Albendazole is a benzimidazole carbamate. After oral administra-
tion, it is erratically absorbed (increased with a fatty meal) and
then rapidly undergoes first-pass metabolism in the liver to the
active metabolite albendazole sulfoxide.
It reaches variable maxi-
mum plasma concentrations about 3 hours after a 400-mg oral
dose, and its plasma half-life is 8–12 hours.
The sulfoxide is
mostly protein-bound, distributes well to tissues, and enters bile,
cerebrospinal fluid, and hydatid cysts. Albendazole metabolites are
excreted in the urine.
Benzimidazoles are thought to act against nematodes by
inhibiting microtubule synthesis. Albendazole also has larvicidal
effects in hydatid disease, cysticercosis, ascariasis, and hookworm
infection and ovicidal effects in ascariasis and ancylostomiasis.
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